A common challenge facing parents in relation to conventional telephones is the propensity of teenagers to overuse the telephone. Despite the best efforts of parents, it has proven difficult to control this propensity. Parents have a strong desire to limit the duration of their teenagers' calls to the extent possible to both reduce their monthly phone bill and increase the availability of their phone. Additionally, other telephone subscribers may wish to limit the number and duration of phone calls and other telecommunications for a variety of reasons, including attempting to reduce the size of their monthly telephone bill.
Various conventional methods for monitoring or limiting the duration of a call exist. For example, many conventional business-style phones, such as those connected to private branch exchanges (PBX), include a timer, which is activated when a phone call begins. By monitoring the display, a caller can determine the running duration of the call and end the call when the desired duration has expired. However, the phone itself includes no mechanism to limit the duration of the call and neither does the underlying telecommunications system. The phone merely provides an indication of the length of the call. For a subscriber wishing to limit the duration of calls by other parties, an indicator provides little value.
Another indicator of call duration is the periodic phone bill. The phone bill provides feedback to the subscriber of the duration of calls to various directory numbers. However, the phone bill is historical and provides no ability to limit the duration of currently-occurring calls.
Other methods exist for limiting the actual duration of calls. For example, the patent granted Nguyen, et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,561, describes “a method and system for apprising the parties to a communication of the duration of the communication while the communication is in progress.” Nguyen dismisses having a caller set up a call demarcation as inefficient and time-consuming. Also, Nguyen does not teach demarcation for a call terminating at the subscriber's phone.
Conventional methods and systems also provide for limiting a call placed using a prepaid calling card. A subscriber provides the prepaid calling card number when placing the call. Based on the billing rate for a particular phone call, an the duration of the call is calculated as a time period equal to the monetary value on the prepaid card divided by the billing rate for the call. If the time period expires during the call, the call is disconnected. In any event, when the call ends, the duration of the call is deducted from the prepaid card balance.
In comparison to a caller-controlled demarcation, several limitations exist when using prepaid cards. One obvious limitation of a prepaid calling card is that the card must be purchased before a call can be placed using the card. Also, the card must be replaced or have value added when the monetary value of the card is depleted. Additionally, a caller may apply the monetary value of the prepaid card to any call. No system or method exists to limit specific calls to only a portion of the prepaid card or to only specific directory numbers.
For these reasons and others, a system and method is needed to provide an indicator or to limit the duration of phone calls and other communications. It would be most advantageous if the system and method were embodied as a service in an intelligent network, allowing a subscriber to vary the time limit of calls placed to or received from various directory numbers and to apply the limit to various time periods. It would also be advantageous to provide the subscriber with the ability to set the limit at any time, including during the instantiation of a call subject to the time limit.